Afghans Doubt Duration, Effectiveness Of US-Taliban Peace Deal - Ambassador

Afghans Doubt Duration, Effectiveness of US-Taliban Peace Deal - Ambassador

The Afghan people are not very hopeful about the US-Taliban peace deal and doubt it can bring quick and sustainable peace, Ambassador to Russia Dr. Mohammad Latif Bahand told Sputnik in an interview

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th March, 2020) The Afghan people are not very hopeful about the US-Taliban peace deal and doubt it can bring quick and sustainable peace, Ambassador to Russia Dr. Mohammad Latif Bahand told Sputnik in an interview.

On February 29, the US and the Taliban signed a long-awaited peace deal that stipulates intra-Afghan talks - which have yet to start - and the US cutting its military presence from 12,000 troops to 8,600 within 135 days. The full pullout is expected within 14 months. The Taliban, in return, pledged to provide guarantees that the country will not become a haven for terrorist groups.

"In general, the Afghan people are very doubtful about all this [the US-Taliban deal] because you know in 1989 there was also an agreement, the Geneva agreement [between Afghanistan and Pakistan], under which big countries like the Soviet Union and America served as guarantors ... that after the withdrawal of the Soviet army there would be a cessation of hostilities," Bahand said.

He, therefore, warned against any projections for how long the Afghan reconciliation would take. His skepticism came in response to US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who had expressed hope that the intra-Afghan talks could finalize within 100 days.

"Why 100 days? Not 15 days, not 50 days? ... People in Afghanistan say that they [the US] are in a hurry to help President [Donald] Trump's election campaign to succeed. This is what the people say," the ambassador stated.

He went on to note that "representatives from all countries say that it is very difficult to trust the Taliban" because the latter keep saying that they "signed an agreement with America, not with the Afghan government."

The diplomat expressed hope that the Taliban would still respect "the national reconciliation and a ceasefire." Otherwise, Bahand warned, the government will not be able to deliver on its promise to release Taliban prisoners. The differences over whether the release should be immediate or gradual caused the intra-Afghan talks, initially set for March 10, to never happen. The release was supposed have coincided with the start of the negotiations.

"How can one free someone without a ceasefire if there is a war going on against you?" Bahand asked.

But if the Taliban ultimately abides by the agreement and Pakistan "stops its assistance" to the movement, there will be no war in Afghanistan, he added.

Young Afghans, the diplomat went on, will then voluntarily join the army to help ensure national security because the country is "now in such a mood that they doubtfully look at international assistance in all areas."